in india all she's afraid of the move the joint the hutu rebels the home of violence the grief we go to the grand imperial truly the torch was to school until you can a with maternal closeness your future security to go and. growth as the colonel was a child as used to retreat. the million dollar bail for the ex i.m.f. chief accused of sexual assault but there's concern is downfalls already caused irreparable financial damage to the eurozone we report all eyes on israeli u.s. relations as prime minister netanyahu meets president obama after rounding up his comments on his backing of palestinian borders live report coming out. of prison term instead of a presidential one two opposition leaders and brother rusco jail sentences for inciting election unrest but supporters say they're being punished for standing up for the country's long time leader. plus cruising to the edge of civilization we

look at what louis tourista the coldest and when the biggest compliment on a. had in business around ten russian companies announced plans to hold i.p.o. in london what's pushing the demand higher find out in our business paul it's not. pretty even from moscow it's ten pm here now it's kevin zero in here at r.t. this with our top story for you and first the former i.m.f. chief has been officially charged with sexually assaulting a hotel maid is to be released on bail of one million dollars dominic strauss kahn will now swap his cell in a tough new york prison for house arrest in a luxury manhattan apartment he'll be tracked by g.p.s. and guarded twenty four hours a day to stop him seeking refuge at the friends. prosy so as karma is the driving

force behind the bailouts to save the indebted greece portugal and ireland but some economists now fear is resignation will put the rescue of ailing economies under question and even put the euro currency on the block as artie's daniel bushell explains. no strong cold no euro that's what because the whispering off the police charge the now ex i.m.f. course with the attempted rape of a hotel maid very differently the possibility that some countries could decide to leave the euro and pushed out of the euro and there we've got to understand such. a belief that the euro could and should be saved in the face of north steel resistance from richer states stross corn led this week's bailout of crippled portugal germany and france insist on oil and raises its lower corporation tax d s k as he's known was the man arguing it's what is saving euro she called me. are

going to. the i.m.f. as an institution and is definitely going to be honest i think. strauss kahn even persuaded greece's leader to stick with strict spending cuts despite royals on the streets but he has a good card some of you have stated governments made it made a difference he has contacts for example to the greek prime minister on thursday resourced for more loans on better terms but no heavyweights europhile d s k has gone few back another bailout. greece should leave the euro zone that has put under strain the euro choice is one of the imus top backers contributing tens of billions of euro ruled it wants is an asian chief who is not likely to be as europe friendly. he has been very personally very important in getting the i.m.f.

involved and assisting in designing these bailout packages but also coaxing and encouraging politicians to do the reforms necessary now you may not get the equivalent behind a person with the same kind of convictions coming from the emerging markets. when one of the world's biggest investment banks fell three years ago it triggered a global recession we're still reeling from today but it's filled with troy your route to extinction you make matters worse the consequences probably would be much higher that's worse for instance as a bankruptcy of lehman in two thousand and eight with e.u. economies that this tool is the team that toppling the world's leading banker comes at the worst possible time this is not just the end of a career dominic's call was instrumental in risking the euro zone's most troubled states is a risk to seem to threaten the end of the euro itself the new bush will see paris

shows comes down for folks not only europe's financial plans but the entire global monetary system as we hear later on the program. this america will stop printing her and see what i've learned that could at least financially blabs. an economics expert tells us the changes at the top of the i.m.f. might also scupper efforts to use alternative reserve currencies to the u.s. dollar he got his insights in detail at our team dot com. the strains definitely showing in the us israeli relations after president obama called for a palestinian state within one hundred sixty seven borders in his middle east peace policy speech that comment angered israel's prime minister who said it would make it impossible for his country to protect itself now back in september the issue of the israeli settlements on the disputed territory stalled peace talks with the palestinians but has talked between ready netanyahu and president obama have now finished we just heard that artie's got it if you can joins us from washington

bureau of r.t. with johnny hi there really a lot of harsh rhetoric ahead of this meeting any information about how that meeting went. well we don't have any statements here neither do we have footage of the. meeting but we do know that the two leaders set down for talks at the white house the meeting comes a day after president obama suggested that israel go back to its pretty nine hundred sixty seven borders and according to president obama that could be the starting point to jam negotiate land swaps with the palestinians. to create new borders going back to nine hundred sixty seven would mean giving up the west bank east jerusalem and the gases group that's something that many israelis find unacceptable and prime minister netanyahu right after obama's speech on thursday said that he disagreed with the u.s. president and said you wanted to see washington's commitment to the decision by congress and president bush includes thousand and four that israel would not have

to give up the occupied territories one can be sure that there will be some heated debates between the leaders behind the scenes maybe not necessarily public statements by the way although obvious basically the first u.s. president who has explicitly supported the idea of going back to the nine hundred sixty seven borders all the other members of the quartet of middle east peace negotiators are supporting the idea and that's the european union's e.u. when and russia russia has long been putting forward that solution is true to the peace process at least despite all those calls negotiations have so far reached a dead end yet it is not the first time girl knows that the u.s. has resorted to loud statements regarding the middle east peace process but was it ever tried loads of the real action. well kevin you're right having call for israel to og you know make bold moves in order to advance the peace process obama was not on the list very very careful to say that the u.s. is solely an advisor here and that is that it is not going to force any decision on

israel because it is up to the israelis and palestinians to decide on you know so on and so forth so he basically cleared washington of any responsibility to act experts say washington's policy of non intervention in the middle east peace process looks even more inconsistent considering america's willingness to intervene in other places in the region you know making demain the manse of the leaders pushing them to fulfill those demands are occasionally bombing those who don't fulfill those demands when it comes to israelis and palestinians there have been words and many words but never any action to really push for the two state solution that president obama was talking about and the fact that israel is the protectorate of the united states and the israeli lobby is very powerful here in the united states makes it even harder to expect a balanced approach from washington one example of words but not actions are the settlements the united states our earlier this year the united nations security

council resolution condemning continued israeli settlement expansion as illegal that happened shortly after secretary of state hillary clinton explicitly called those settlements illegitimate but when he came to actually teaming up with the international community can damage the u.s. blocked the resolution the security council vote was fourteen countries in favor and one country that was against it and that was the united states going to come thanks for the. conversation but as she's the director of the new international project of the ways institute for policy studies very good even she's going on a so you know we. met it's a progress this meeting really just finished but you know he didn't have a lot of details there. now hearing in the last few minutes that it was a very diplomatic line that was taken by obama this evening at that meeting but he did reiterate his position on palestinian borders where one party wants to work with israel as friends rather than foes is that what you expected and is that

possible now. well i think we should be clear that this is not the first time that any president has ever talked about those borders the israelis have made a very big deal about this saying this is new this is a change in u.s. policy and all the press has really needed that it simply is not one year after the famous two thousand and four letter exchange between bush and sharon that your your colleague just referred to there was another letter or another statement from president bush where he used the term the one hundred forty nine armistice line that line is the sixty seven borders it's not the same words but it is it is the same so there's nothing new here the green. there's nothing new the in fact this speech was very much in keeping with the israeli position that the palestinian state will have to give up the land of the settlements in return they will get probably some desert land of bodyguards or something like that president obama went

further and said that he recognizes israel as a jewish state and the state of the homeland of the jewish people which essentially means that he would accept the legal discrimination the apartheid legal system inside israel that discriminates legally against non jews at the same time saying that the palestinian state will be the holy land for all the palestinian people implying that the right of return which includes the right to return to homes inside what is now israel will not apply and that any palestinians returning palestinian refugees will have to go to the new palestinian state which was of course not their home. is not the less still trying to get a peace process back on. his knee but i was not going to worry because the palestinians are already heading toward recognition or trying to at least of the u.n. so is the bomber just too late has missed the boat. he hasn't missed the boat if he

was prepared to use real pressure the palestinian president of the palestinian authority mahmoud abbas who is also the chairman of the p.l.o. and it's in that role in the his role in as the head of the p.l.o. is negotiating with the u.s. he's made clear that he would rather continue this same process that many others myself included believe has been a failed process he would rather do that then go to the united nations but he can't do that if there is the continuation of settlements in a in a huge insult to the united states and to president obama the israeli government just announced as well as prime minister netanyahu was flying to the u.s. to meet with president obama denounced the considerations of fifteen thousand new settlement blocks settlement houses settlements housing units to be built in the occupied west bank in and around jerusalem so they are clearly not taking seriously the idea that there is any pressure on settlements and in fact they probably should

not believe it's serious because we have seen no evidence last year when we had a great deal of attention being paid to the question of settlements we never saw real pressure what we saw from the u.s. from president obama was a series of requests please stop expanding settlements israel said no the u.s. continued to request israel continued to say no and the u.s. stopped requesting real pressure would have meant that when israel said no that the u.s. said all the thirty billion dollars we're paying you in military aid over these ten years you can kiss that goodbye just step one of pressure and we didn't hear it so for those who sort of the strongest cold tonight. i think right now president obama is holding the strongest card and indeed it is with the support of the majority of americans in this country including the majority of american jews but he does not feel willing apparently to use that card to bring real pressure to bear the apac

the largest and most powerful part of the pro israel lobby is meeting this weekend here in washington president obama will address them on sunday there will be netanyahu will talk to them on monday he will also address congress and there is a great deal of fear in washington of that pro israel lobby despite the fact that there has been an enormous change in in the discourse in this country about this question the rise of jewish anti occupation organizations the rise of the j. street lobby which calls itself pro israel and pro peace and is against settlement expansion all of these things indicate a massive change but somehow it appears that the most powerful influences on the democrats are coming from those parts of the pro israel lobby that are the same right wing wealthy patrons that have made it so difficult for both members of congress and the administration to change their position on this they no longer

have to worry about popular opinion on this if they ever did but they have here for some reason not willing to acknowledge that shift in discourse. for your thoughts for this bill is director of the new internationalism project of a d.c. based institute for policy studies as you are. well across the atlantic two palestinian factions. to come together for talks here in moscow solving other years long conflict in the region and for political rivals have been punching things up lately as they propose a bridge for you and recognition as i mentioned just no later this year actually sort of first has got the details on. the representatives of the x. rivals hamas and fatah along with a number of other palestinian factions represented a rising in most gate he continued the in supply list binion dialogue now after four years as the hostilities between fatah and hamas the two organizations signed

a reconciliation agreement today in cairo at the beginning of the month and the plan now is for them to establish an interim government to then try and hold elections and to appeal to the un for recognition of an independent palestinian state and now there are still a number of very serious hurdles at the full that could happen the situation does remain complicated when the reconciliation agreement was signed most cases i think welcome that both and said it was native russia along with egypt in particular had been instrumental in their efforts to bring about the signing of that agreement and so it's the most gave it is a constable in fireman's at these objective and very important tools to be held. sarah firth for take up a few minutes on the program with me cavanagh is the tourist with a passion for the pole and. the beauty of antarctica is something that not many people on this earth will get the opportunity to see which is why it's one of the

world's most exotic tourist destinations i'm sean thomas in antarctica and coming up on r.t. explore why some people are willing to pay big bucks to make it down here. and why we have the well meet the siberian cat who's motherhood knows no one and why her new kitten couple not quite just loves all think of his baby milk teeth. using a presidential election suddenly or for the candidates and in bellerose second even land you in jail to opposition leaders have been handed prison sentences for causing election day unrest the verdicts on two others have been postponed the x. candidates say challenging the country's president has cost them their freedom. jet ski reports now from mints. he was running for president in belarus but ended up behind bars claim but even you can i was among the organizers of election night street unrest in minsk unrest which was brutally dispersed by police his wife was

complaining for justice but does not have much faith that will happen so that the little thing the people had a little bellerose with already got teased the judges being told from above which verdicts they must in the first court hearings of my husband's case the prosecutor named new evidence new facts which could prove that in his guilt and all the claims by the difference were denied by the judge the country's president has been dubbed europe's last dictator but isn't represent over the way he rules the us for this opposition they will get hit in the head all right at the start of stabilizing the situation in the country the clashes during which several journalists including our g.'s crew were injured by the police led to a number of arrests but that is how this story it is take their revenge and those who criticize them during the election campaign they had their say and now they will pay for that has once again been reinstated these repressions caused uproar around europe most countries condemned the crackdown and even contemplated

sanctions against minsk experts say the timing of these court cases could not be worse well there is no face is a serious economic crisis with its currency on the brink of total devaluation with the opposition trials being seen in the west as a strong evidence of human rights violations the export of belorussian goods to the european union has caused that along with international loans has been the country's main revenue stream for the past two decades it is the first time in seventeen years that alexander lukashenko has been a power that he finds himself under severe pressure both internationally and at home and even if the opposition leaders get short of prison terms than initially planned many experts say that unless there is a free. probably can rest will only expand especially with this financial turmoil. look seriously at ski r.t. reporting from minsk in belarus. elsewhere tonight north korean leader kim jong

il's in china according to south korean news agencies early reports suggested that his son an air head traveled to the north korea like discuss the pressure his country faces over its nuclear program kim trips abroad are usually kept secret which brings speculation about his health. and. at least two american astronauts of the six space walk cut short but not before completing for the sparrows and repairs they were called back inside the international space station after a carbon dioxide monitor failed and one of the astronauts protective suits the mission is part of the endeavor shuttle final journey before its secretary. it may lack luxury resorts or palm strewn beaches but on target is frozen barren land still a hot spot for some and in our next report from the southernmost tip of the earth r.t. shaun thomas needs those spending thousands of dollars to swap five star for frust the guests on board this cruise ship get ready to come ashore to experience

something magical an arctic is an area to visit. imagination i mean you can reach talks look at t.v. shows and try to be prepared but we experience every trip again once we take people down here they are only way by the set of nature of the landscape and weather and whatever is out here in this environment so it's it's a voyage beyond imagination tourism in antarctica is a major business but because of the in charge a treaty system in international agreement that limits exploitation of the parsonage don't expect to see any luxury hotels down here any time soon excursions are mainly limited to cruise ships and small charter flights from the tip of south america. they are really coming down here to see something unique it's an ecosystem like no other. and also for the people who do come on these journeys i think they get spellbound because really it's it's

a vision of the world before man had anything to do with it and passengers on board the national geographic explorer can truly get a one on one up close and personal experience with the scenery and wildlife of antarctica but keep in mind this is antarctica and people have to be aware that they are far away from civilization i mean our stock today here to maxwell bait was not planned but a medical emergency last night and now we have clichy aging the assistance of the james here that have an airfield in here and then a international association of the two operators has developed in iraq ration scheme for such a case because of the intense logistics involved in operating in such remote environments and antarctica experience can be quite costly and eleven night adventure on this ship can cost anywhere between ten and twenty thousand dollars and a day in antarctica flight package from fourteen is chilling costs around five thousand but the people who make this journey say the experience is worth it we just got

back from being able to go look at look at some penguins look at some seals and you know they don't have like the real fear of humans that animals do in most parts of the world and as you can see there's a lot of just like stark natural beauty out here and it's interesting to see the you know the colonies out of popped up in the middle of nowhere at the bottom of the earth. and those that facilitate these trips say there is more to the antarctic tourism industry then making a buck it is not only invented in adventure for everybody we are very careful actually also telling people that they should take something home that may change their life we try him to be aware how special this environment is in a global climate change and here view of it in a sink change as we are coming year down here for twenty years or even longer and we see those changes hopefully creating ambassadors that will spread the message about this important part of the world in antarctica shan thomas r.t. . other more thrills and chills from artie's antarctic ice conditions here tomorrow

an r.t. shaun thousands final report for us. the above. is one of the most extreme environments on the planet this is antarctica and people have to be aware that they are far away from civilization sean thomas discovers what makes antarctica so special that attractive for many life in antarctica is. an . extradition to the bottom of the earth. great series and put together that for all the unusual tale of brotherly love this feline mum you're about to see she's taken an abandoned baby ruth heard me correct about a couple been rejected by his actual mother shortly after he was born in a siberian rule for the desperate zookeepers their last hope was this four legged nurse who was thankfully close to hand now the canine. is the cat's whiskers and

the pictures you and me. well we've got the cream of the cat walk almost when moscow goes on a russian shopping spree in a few minutes time later to create scott the fight for the top of the russian football probably only going to sport here on out see this half hour as well the culture of the business now the crane is here. welcome to the south thanks for joining me a host of russian companies are lining up to hold i.p.o.'s in foreign markets some of the other airport and the russian copper company are going for london well search engine decks were listed on the nasdaq in new york next week however the recent track record for russia has not been great with several having to cancel due to low demand tongue blackwell from consultancy and communications russia says these are exceptions not the rule. i think the issue is less with the fundamental

problem of the russian i.p.o. story in fact post crisis a lot of the growth is back whoever it is much lower than it was and a lot of the fundamentals look good so perhaps in some of the recent cases it's more helpful to look at some of the specific company or industry issues that played a role in those particular deals perhaps in the case of your sets what you have certainly seen over the last couple of years is the investors have been less receptive to stories where the i.p.o.'s been driven by a strong growth primarily a secondary component with shareholders selling down and i think the attention in the recent case that may have played a role with russian helicopters was a very different story you had a company that was coming they were new helicopter companies that had previously gone to market in anywhere in the world and so when they were going to market there wasn't an obvious group of peers that investors could value them against i wouldn't exclude the possibility of them coming to a much more receptive market if you process they've had more time to see the benefits of consolidation and the synergies that have been derived from that person . now let's look at the market's performance u.s.

stocks friday after rating agency fitch downgraded greece prompting more worry that the country's debt trouble could extend beyond its borders gap another we tell are single signs that consumer demand is weakening. seventeen percent after the clothing chain reported a twenty two percent fall in profit in the first quarter now in europe stocks closed lower and again greece's downgrade is to blame in london the pussy slipped point one percent shares of lloyds were under pressure losing two point nine percent after goldman sachs downgraded the bank to neutral from by citing a worse than expected trends in the first quarter of the year. two and a half percent on the dax. and here in moscow the markets close in the red as well as commodities worries about global demand now let's take a look at something to vidual share moves promo's among the losers while it was top stop all morning down two point two percent the company maintained its stance against the e.u. third energy package. lost over two percent and. a half after the dinner puts in

approve the sale of seven point two percent of the state share in the largest lender bucking the trend though. it was up over. the merger of two main russian board says the r.t.s. and allies x. could be announced as soon as next week if a deal goes through it could result in a substantial payday for the major shareholders in a. somewhat premature to share with the shareholders have come to a decision to play three hundred thirty million dollars and give it its however the biggest part of that money will be paid to shareholder meetings up my selection years agree all niger and the federal antimonopoly service except these three men should be completed book. and that's all the business. but stay with us for headline news will have a. wealthy

british style but it's not on the right time. to. market i can find out what's really happening to the global economy for a no holds barred look at the.